February 9, 2007
You Need a Coach
All great people have coaches. Every professional athlete has a coach. All professional entertainers have coaches. More and more corporate executives are hiring coaches to help them get through the rough patches in their career. It seems as though entrepreneurs are the only folks who continue to be intent on going it on their own.
Here are three benefits to working with coach if you are an entrepreneur:
Vision
As an entrepreneur you have a burning need to be self-reliant. This is fantastic when you are just starting out. You need the “me against the world” attitude in order to stay motivated. However once you have developed a client base and you need to begin delivering your products and services you can get mired in complexity. All of a sudden you wake up and you realize that you are focused on the tactical aspects of your business and you have lost the vision you had when you began.
A coach will ask you the kind of questions that you bring your vision back into focus. A coach has the benefit of viewing you business from a 30,000 foot perspective. He/she can see things that you are too close to see.
Stress Release
As an entrepreneur, you are the boss. There’s really nobody with whom you can share your thoughts or issues. A coach can listen to you and he/she can offer realistic feedback on your thoughts and ideas. Now, the coach is not the expert in your business. They are there to listen and ask tough questions. They are there to make you think. They are there to force you to take the time to focus on the big picture.
Talent Identification
Your coach will become an expert on what you do well and where you need support. Most business owners have a knack for hiring people who are just like them. This can be a disaster. A coach can help you identify your talent and identify your weaknesses. You can then look to hire people to support you in the areas where you are weak. This is one of the invaluable “side benefits” of working with a coach.
Ultimately a relationship with a coach should deliver ten times (or more) the value you pay to have one. I am biased because I coach entrepreneurs and I have watched the people I worked with double and triple their income.
Filed under: Coaching
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